No Child Left Inside at the Lake Superior Reserve

On the shores of Lake Superior, something powerful is happening. Thanks to the Lake Superior Reserve, kids are reconnecting with nature as they work toward science and math learning goals.

Take one second-grade class that became fascinated with puffins—birds that don’t live anywhere near the Midwest. Thanks to the Reserve’s Rivers2Lake Education Program, their teacher was able to transfer that interest to a local species, the piping plover, and connect the students with a nonprofit monitoring program. Being able to watch native birds in the wild helped inspire the students’ curiosity about their local estuary.

Since 2012, Rivers2Lake (the local name for the System-wide Teachers on the Estuary Program) has supported 132 educators in the Lake Superior watershed with free professional development, classroom support, and other resources that help stretch strapped school budgets go further. In that time, more than 4,000 students have benefited from outdoor learning experiences that use local data and landscapes into their schoolwork.

“We connect teachers to Reserve data, restoration projects, research, and even guest experts,” says Reserve educator Luciana Ranelli.

Elementary, middle, and high school students learn how to test water quality for turbidity, dissolved oxygen, and temperature using the same tools as scientists and natural resource managers. Others collect samples or observe their surroundings in nature journals. In winter, students learn how to track animal prints in the snow. 

The program also helps teachers get into the groove of teaching outdoors, which boosts student enthusiasm for learning.

Andy Pokrzywinski, a teacher at Ashland High School reflected that, “it takes a lot of effort to integrate these experiences into a classroom day. I feel a great sense of accomplishment to have taken the effort and ventured into the outside classroom with my students. I know this means a lot to them.”

“Since starting the program, my class has been getting outside every single day to learn about the land, plants, animals, creek, rocks, soils, and weather,” shared Sally Goodman, a kindergarten teacher at the Marshall Forest School.

Rivers2Lake provides sustained support for teachers, which includes mentoring, co-teaching opportunities, seasonal workshops, and access to a network of alumni and community partners. Some return as mentors for new program participants. 

“Sometimes teachers are seeking emotional support, and we can provide that too,” Ranelli notes.

The program’s impact is carefully tracked through teacher reflections, monthly check-ins, and formal surveys. At a winter workshop each year, teachers bring student work, photos, and lessons to share with other program participants. 

The Lake Superior Reserve is affiliated with the University of Wisconsin-Madison Division of Extension.